Kirstie Alley is recruiting some old friends for her unscripted Showtime series “Fat Actress.” John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Jeff Zucker and Mark Curry are set to appear in the show’s first episode.
Set to premiere in March of 2005, “Fat Actress” takes an only slightly fictionalized look at Alley’s own experiences with looking for love and work in Hollywood while having to deal with endless media and tabloid speculation about her yo-yoing weight.
Showtime has committed to seven episodes of the series, which was created by Alley and Brenda Hampton (“7th Heaven”).
Travolta, who has fought his own public battles with the bulge, co-starred with Alley in the seminal “Look Who’s Talking” trilogy. The series of films, featuring a talking baby, a talking toddler and eventually a talking dog and cat initially marked a comeback from Travolta and gave Alley a film career in the midst of her “Cheers” run, but eventually became the subject of jokes.
Preston, Travolta’s wife since 1991, has appeared in films including “Mischief,” “Spellbinder” and “The Cat in the Hat.”
Zucker is the president of the NBC Universal TV Group. Alley’s two biggest series successes — “Cheers” and “Veronica’s Closet” — aired on NBC.
Curry was the star of “Hanging with Mr. Cooper.”
In addition to Alley and Hampton, Sandy Chanley (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) will executive produce “Fat Actress.”
Credit: Zap2it.
